Hampton Roads Wartime Women

11/25/2025

11/17/2025

Ola “Millie” Mildred Rexroat WASP was the only Native American woman to serve in the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots or WASP. Her mother was Oglala Lakota, and Rexroat grew up at Pine Ridge Reservation near Wakpamni Lake. Before the war she worked for what is now the Bureau of Indian Affairs, working for engineers building airfields. This is where she was inspired to learn how to fly. Rexroat was able to join the WASP when she was 23 years old. In the WASP, she transported cargo and personnel, and towed targets for aerial gunnery students at Eagle Pass Army Airfield. Despite the dangerous work, she felt fortunate, because the commander at her base “liked WASPs and thought they did a good job of flying and requested more.” After the disbandment of the WASP she continued to work in aviation, becoming one of the first women air traffic controllers.

11/07/2025

You might know the name Thorpe from Jim Thorpe, famous as a professional athlete and Olympian. But did you know his daughter Cpl Grace Thorpe served in the WAC? Through her parents, Grace Thorpe’s tribal heritage included Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Sac and Fox, and Menominee. In 1943, Grace briefly worked for the Ford Motor Company, and then joined the WAAC. She trained in Fort Oglethorpe, GA, and was later stationed in AZ to work in recruitment. Later she was stationed in the Pacific, serving in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan. Cpl Thorpe was awarded a Bronze Star for her service in the Battle of New Guinea. After the war she retuned to Oklahoma, where she served as tribal district court judge, health commissioner, and activist.

10/08/2025

We had such a wonderful time representing the WACs and WASP at the this weekend! Even without the air show it was a fantastic time! Can’t wait for the next event!

10/08/2025

WASP Jane Dunbar waited 68 years to meet a Tuskegee Airman. As a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) in 1944, Jane and other WASPs based at Craig Army Air Field ferried planes to a group of the Tuskegee Airmen who were stationed close by in Mobile, Alabama. Although she did not meet any airmen at the time, Jane heard a lot about them and “admired them for their flying capabilities and their fierce determination.”

Jane did manage to meet Elder James H. Brown sixty-eight years later. James knew very little about the WASPs existence and had “always wondered who bought the airplanes to the base of operations.” Jane described the meeting with James as “wonderful” and enjoyed discussing the parallels in their lives: their love of flying, their determination to prove their critics wrong, and the lack of recognition they received for their role in the war.

Fellow WASP Elaine Harmon never lost her love for aviation or commitment to securing recognition for WASPs as veterans and, in later life, served as a board member at our museum where she hoped to place a memorial to Maryland WASPs.

For seven years, she contacted other women Maryland WASP pilots and asked them to write an account of their lives, including their time as a WASP. She generously donated her records to the museum and it is through her hard work that we have learned about the thirteen other courageous and impressive Maryland WASPs, including Jane Dunbar Tedeschi.
Photo credit: David McSwain via Findagrave

09/01/2025

We are gearing up for Army Expo 2025 at in Carlisle, PA Sept 13-14. We had an AMAZING time last year, and can’t wait to attend this fantastic event again. If you’re in the area, come check it out!!! We guarantee a great time!

08/24/2025

We’ll be at USAHEC Army Expo 2025, Sept 13-14 in Carlisle PA! Come see us if you’re in the area!

06/27/2025

06/20/2025

06/15/2025

Good News Everyone! New information reveals that while the US Women’s Army Museum may be closing as a stand alone museum, it will be consolidated into a new, larger museum on base. And this change will likely happen in the next two years. While we love the Women’s Army Museum as it is, it is wonderful to hear that the collections will still be displayed at the consolidated museum.

06/12/2025

June 12th is National Women Veterans Recognition Day. Today we thank all women who served or are currently serving in the military for their service.

06/11/2025

We are devastated to learn that not only does the Army plan to close more than 20 base museums, but that the U.S. Army Women’s Museum at Fort Gregg-Adams is one of the museums that will be closed. The Army Women’s Museum has long been a favorite museum of HRWW’s. They have supported us in research on WACs many times, and held many events highlighting women’s military history from the revolutionary war to the present. We hope that U.S. Army museums will continue to share women’s history in the military, and support women veterans.